RetireJapan

I refinanced my initial home loan from my house builders mortgage provider to SBI Sumishin a year into my loan, and you should not need to worry about losing the mortgage balance tax deduction due to switching. You do have a little homework to do each year when submitting the mortgage balance form for nenmatsu chosei/ kakutei shinkoku, but after doing it the first year, the similar homework just repeats each year thereafter. This involves writing a line of Japanese on the form to note that you refinanced…

When I refinanced, I calculated I would save about 10 million yen over the life of my loan, so the refinancing fee was well worth it.

Also, check out Aeon Bank's rates... You get all sorts of extra benefits like shopping discounts, etc..
https://www.aeonbank.co.jp/housing_loan/

Many banks will not change the terms or interest rate. In that case the only way is to refinance to another bank.

Prestia's Mortgage terms are horrible...

The Tax Deduction is for a fixed number of years (probably 10), and based on the Outstanding Balance of your home loan at the end of each year, so it is not tied to your lender. You should already have all the Slips to claim every year.

If you are in discussions about refinancing, the new bank should give you a report of how much you would save over the remaining life of the mortgage after including all the refinancing fees, etc.. They will tell you if it is in your interest to refinance or not.

SBI Sumishin is an online bank so I guess are cheaper in respects because of that, but if you are near a “Money Plaza”, you can talk to a human face to face about it, for free. Well, at least it was free when I did it 7 years back at Shinjuku.